Daily Recap — June 28

SHOOTING IN MARYLAND

At least five people were killed and several others were gravely injured in a shooting this afternoon at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Anne Arundel County, MD.

Cops say they have the suspect and his name is Jarrod W. Ramos, a 38-year-old Laurel man with a longstanding dispute with the Capital.

“This was a targeted attack on the Capital Gazette,” said Anne Arundel County Deputy Police Chief William Krampf. “This person was prepared today to come in. He was prepared to shoot people.”

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THE MOTIVE:

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A Twitter account matching Ramos name with a location of Laurel, Maryland, includes years of tweets railing against Capital Gazette and includes details of a yearslong legal dispute with the company.

According to an unreported 2015 opinion filed in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Ramos pleaded guilty to criminal harassment in July 2011. Five days later, an article about the case appeared in The Capital, one of Capital Gazette’s publications. The story detailed accusations by a woman who said Ramos harassed her online and off for months, calling her employer and trying to get her fired. The woman eventually went to the police and Ramos pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassment in 2011.

The Twitter account that matches Ramos’ name began tweeting about Capital Gazette several months after the conviction.

In July 2012, Ramos filed suit against Capital Gazette for defamation, according to the 2015 court filing. The complaint was just four paragraphs long, but Ramos filed a longer 22-page claim several months later.

In 2012, a judge dismissed the lawsuit on the basis that “there is absolutely not one piece of evidence, or an assertion by you that the statement [in the article] was false.”

“I think people who are the subject of newspaper articles, whoever they may be, feel that there is a requirement that they be placed in the best light, or they have an opportunity to have the story reported to their satisfaction, or have the opportunity to have however much input they believe is appropriate,” Judge Maureen M. Lamasney said when dismissing the case. “But that’s simply not true. There is nothing in those complaints that prove that anything that was published about you is, in fact, false.”

I guess Ramos just isn’t one to let go of a grudge.

This guy has definitely worn a goth outfit or two.

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HOW IT WENT DOWN

.The first responders really knocked this one out of the park. Many lives were saved thanks to fast and courageous police work today.The first thing you need to know is the Gazette is not the only business in the building where the shooting occurred. There are 30 tenants in the building, including five others on the first floor with The Capital. They include accountants, lawyers, financial and medical offices. The newspaper has been in the building since 2015, according to CoStar, a real estate information company. They have 5,000 square feet of offices.

The gunman bypassed all the other tenants, went straight to the Gazette office, and opened fire.

“Gunman shot through the glass door to the office and opened fire on multiple employees. Can’t say much more and don’t want to declare anyone dead, but it’s bad,” one witness wrote on Twitter as he waited to be interviewed by police.

People hid under their desks and those on different floors locked themselves down. But luckily, those measures weren’t as necessary in the end, as police arrived on the scene within 1 minute. You read that correctly: 1 minute. A damn miracle.

Police said a shotgun was used in the incident, so there goes the liberal “ban assault weapons” talking point. They said officers did not exchange gunfire with the suspect, who was now being interrogated. They said officers had recovered “smoke grenades” used by the suspect in the building. About 170 people were inside at the time of the shooting, police said.

Basically, the guy gave himself up immediately and went peacefully.

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THIS WAS NO SUICIDE ATTACK

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It’s pretty clear this idiot thought he could actually get away with massacring a friggin news office.

He mutilated his fingers in an apparent attempt to make it harder to identify him via fingerprint. Cops actually used facial recognition technology to ID him. And yes, they can do that to you, too. What were you expecting? That technology has been available for over a decade. Krampf said he had no such information. Krampf said police had identified threats to the Capital made on social media as recently as Thursday, and were trying to identify their source.

Once captured, he was revealed to have smoke bombs and flashing grenades in his backpack and there was at least one unexploded “device” planted on the premises.

He was gonna go shoot a bunch of people and try to get away.

Hopefully he gets killed in prison.

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BIG PICTURE:

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This was an unstable guy with a personal grudge going back years. The Left are dying to portray this as some rabid Trumper who is targeting the media because of Trump’s OMG DANGEROUS RHETORIC but the facts simply don’t support it.

This was an isolated incident involving an isolated whacko. It happens.

Don’t drop the soap, Jethro.

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A NEW DOG AND PONY SHOW

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By now, congressional testimony by the swamp has become a sort of routine event, with lawyerly answers abound and rivaled in number only by the frustrated citizens at home throwing things at their television screens.

Deputy Attorney General Fraud Rosenstein and FBI Director J. Edgar Wray today faced a fierce grilling from House Republicans amid the escalating feud between the stonewalling Justice Department and people actually friggin defending the POTUS on Capitol Hill. There were times my chest even swole with pride for the GOP. There were sightings of testicles even!

The five-hour theater of the absurd contained plenty of fireworks as what has gone on behind closed doors for months finally started to spill over into public view.

It’s safe to say that by the time Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) gaveled out, it was clear the GOP was still deeply unsatisfied by the department’s response to their demands.

For Democrats, the message was predictable. The evil Republicans are trying to discredit the King Bob probe, as if nothing has happened in the last year for that probe to have discredited itself. Their threshold for corruption is nothing less than nauseating.

Let’s go down and list off the main points from the hearing.

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THE JORDAN/ROSENSTEIN FUED IS AT A TIPPING POINT:

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It was pretty clear today that Rosenstein and Jordan aren’t BFF’s.

In one of the most confrontational exchanges of the day, Jordan accused Rosenstein of “hiding information” from Congress — a charge Rosenstein virulently denied knowing full well that Jordan’s claim has merit.

“Now Mr. Jordan, I am the deputy attorney general of the United States. Okay?” Rosenstein snapped in obvious annoyance. “I am not the person doing the redacting. I am responsible for responding to your concerns, as I am … So your statement that I am personally keeping information from you, trying to conceal information —”

“You’re the boss, Mr. Rosenstein,” Jordan interrupted.

“That’s correct, and my job is to make sure we respond to your requests. And we have, sir. Again, I appreciate your concerns—”

“Again, I think the House of Representatives is going to say otherwise,” Jordan cut in.

Finally, Rosenstein appeared to have had enough: “But your use of this to attack me personally is deeply wrong.”

CRY ME A ****ING RIVER. ATTACK YOU?? HE’S ASKING WHY YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE ABLE TO REDACT ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THEY WANT AND HIS RESPONSE IS TO CRY ABOUT BEING ATTACKED?

I hate the Earth and everyone in it.

Rosenstein got in another sharp jab at Jordan’s expense later in the hearing, when Jordan pressed Rosenstein on allegations that he had “threatened” to subpoena certain information on House Intelligence Committee staffers amid the dispute over record production.

“Did you threaten to subpoena phones and emails?” Jordan asked.

Rosenstein fired back.“No sir, and there’s no way to subpoena phone calls,” he said, before brusquely switching off his mic. It was a smartass remark meant to embarass Jordan; one I’m sure wasn’t appreciated.

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BUT JORDAN GOT THE LAST LAUGH:

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When Jordan told Rosenstein that the “House was about to say otherwise,” he wasn’t kidding.

The House successfully passed a resolution in the middle of the hearing, one that seeks to compel the Justice Department to turn over key documents that Congress has requested.

The measure, which passed along party lines in a 226-183 vote, serves as a warning shot from House conservatives that they will take more aggressive action if the FBI and DOJ keep trying to play cute about handing over documents that have been demanded.

Shortly before the vote on the resolution, Jordan, one of the authors of the measure, told Rosenstein that it will show that House lawmakers do not believe the DOJ has fully complied with their document requests nor their congressional subpoenas.

Both Rosenstein and Wray used the public forum as a platform to defend their agencies against the GOP lawmakers’ attacks. The two officials fiercely pushed back on claims that their agencies were “slow-walking” documents to the committee.

Rosenstein told lawmakers during his opening remarks that the FBI has made “unprecedented disclosures” to congressional committees under the Trump administration, noting that they have fulfilled most document requests.

Wray also noted that they have had about 100 employees working around the clock to provide all relevant documents to Congress, and that they plan to complete any outstanding document requests.

“For months, we’ve been working with your committee to make witnesses available, answer questions, and produce or make available to you and your staff over now 880,000 pages,” Wray told the committee in his opening remarks.

Well, it’s true that Wray has expanded his staff to work on producing documents for the House, but they’re still holding onto specific documents that have been requested since last year, mainly foundational intelligence related to the Russia probe.

In other words, WHAT THE HELL THEY USED TO JUSTIFY THIS WITCH HUNT TO BEGIN WITH. Spoiler alert: there was no justification, it’s all BS. But we’ll continue to touch on that as time goes on.

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GOWDY GETS HIS SET BACK:

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Gowdy has been little more to me than a shiny little elf ever since he began licking the boots of the FBI and DOJ, but the old bulldog Gowdy decided to make an appearance today on the Hill, much to the delight of every GOP onlooker.

Gowdy aired Republican frustrations over the Mueller investigation during his questioning, accusing the probe of “tearing” the American people apart and demanding its swift conclusion.

“There’s an old saying that justice delayed is justice denied,” Gowdy said. “I think right now all of us are being denied. Whatever you’ve got, finish it the hell up, because this country is being torn apart.”

Whew. Some tough talk for such a shiny dude.

Gowdy’s message was pretty clear and concise: it’s time to show your hand. If they have the goods on Trump, it’s time to lay it out on the table because the sham investigation they have going on should no longer enjoy the benefit of the doubt. In fact, if the Swamp weren’t the Swamp, this monstrosity would’ve been shut down long ago.

Rosenstein maintained his composure once again and gently pushed back on suggestions that the department should end the investigation.

“I think the best thing we can do is finish it appropriately and reach a conclusion,” Rosenstein said.

HOW CAN YOU FINISH IT APPROPRIATELY WHEN IT BEGAN INAPPROPRIATELY AND IS BEING CONDUCTED INAPPROPRIATELY? Sorry Gowdy, but you really should have thought to say that in response.

Rosenstein went on to stress that there has been “no allegation” by the Justice Department or King Bob beyond what is contained in the public indictments, and discouraged the public from jumping to conclusions “without seeing the evidence.”

That’s right, folks. You should only jump to conclusions without seeing evidence when you’ve been handed a pee-pee dossier written by Russian intelligence.

This whole damn thing is a farce.

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WRAY & ROSENSTEIN WILL DEFEND KING BOB TO THE DEATH:

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They staunchly defended the integrity of both themselves and Mueller’s investigation at every turn, no matter how absurd the defense.

Both Wray and Rosenstein denied that they are “angry Democrats.” Their remarks came in response to one Democratic lawmaker’s question referencing Trump’s frequent claim that “13 angry Democrats” are serving on Mueller’s investigative team.

“I’m trying to do this job apolitically,” Wray told lawmakers. “I do not consider myself an angry Democrat.”

Of course, like everything else the Dim and Swamp work together on, it was incredibly disingenuous and meant to mislead the public. Yes, it’s true that Wray and Rosenstein are Republicans. Whoopdy doo. So are Cooter McCain and Mitt Romney.

But by “13 Angry Democrats,” PDT is referring to the team of obviously biased investigators put together by Mueller. Andrew Weissmann is one of the head guys, for God’s sake, and he’s known as one of the dirtiest liberal prosecutors in the country. He’s been disciplined by the BAR association and EVEN ATTENDED HILLARY’S VICTORY (lol) PARTY.

Rosenstein pushed back on criticism that Mueller is dragging out the probe, saying he believes the pace of the special counsel’s investigation is “not atypical at all,” and that it is being carried out as quickly as possible.

Oh yeah? The probe was started to find collusion with Russia and is now looking for campaign finance violations from porn star payments. COULD THAT BE CONSIDERED DRAGGING IT OUT?

Rosenstein also defended the probe against claims that political bias among FBI officials may have tainted it, stating that Mueller has taken “appropriate steps” to ensure that any animus toward Trump did not impact the Russia investigation.

“I can assure you that he understands the importance of considering any credibility issues, determining whether or not to rely on a person,” Rosenstein told lawmakers.

You can assure us of that? Really? So Mueller can put together a team full of Hillary donors/sycophants and we can be assured that Mueller takes bias seriously?

This is an absolute insult to our intelligence, everyone. And the GOP need to keep the pedal all the way to the medal on these scumbags.

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ROSENSTEIN FIGHTS BACK ON FISA

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Republicans (rightly) grilled Rosenstein on his role in approving a surveillance warrant request for former (wannabe) Trump campaign aide Carter Page, after the election was over and Page was no longer a part of the campaign.

The Republicans claim, with good reason, that it was uncorroborated and based almost exclusively on the pee-pee dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign — something that Democrats who have seen the underlying application say isn’t true.

Rosenstein at multiple points defended his approval of the FISA warrant application, although he declined to discuss classified specifics in a public setting.

He said he “disputes [the] characterization” that the court’s order authorized the FBI to “spy” on the Trump campaign, as the president and his allies have alleged.

“If the inspector general finds I did something wrong, I’ll accept that judgment, but I think that’s highly highly unlikely,” he said in a testy exchange with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), referring to an ongoing review of the matter by IG Horowitz.

Yes, there is a probe ongoing about FISA abuses. People seem to forget that.

Later, he added that it would be a “dereliction of duty” if he failed to sign validly predicated warrant applications. The problem is, Rosenstein gave the impression that he had never even read the applications in question. It seems to have been a rubber stamp situation when that’s the last type of protocol that should have been in place.

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BIG PICTURE:

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Here’s the dill, pickle. There’s about to be a clash.

On one side, you’ve got patriots within the House GOP that are demanding documentation on what started this whole PutinGate nonsense to begin with.

On the other, you’ve got Fraud Rosenstein doing all he can to make sure those documents get nowhere near Congress, assuming any documents actually exist.

You want to know the really, really big picture of what is going on? Here you go, the answer to the whole damn thing:

Jim Jordan, Twinkletoes Graham, Devin Nunes and a whole slew of other folks are onto what actually went down, and what actually went down is that the FBI attempted to entrap the Trump campaign in a collusion case. The “informants” inserted into the campaign, the meeting at Trump Tower with the Russian lawyer that the Obama DOJ specially let into the country on a rare visa, it was all meant to entrap Trump world in a crime and end his campaign.

That’s why they went after Carter Page and Roger Stone; because they were deemed most likely to take the bait. They didn’t.

And now, the FBI is in the unenviable position of having to prove that their investigation was always legitimate. But it wasn’t.

Hence the stonewalling, hence the CYA.

There you go, problem solved.

Don’t forget to tip your writer.

And oh yeah….one thing to remember whenever reading any sort of analysis regarding this document stonewalling: PDT can declassify them anytime he wants. He could make a phone call right now and have those documents produced.

But he’s not. And there’s a reason for that. As your personal nerd, I strongly advise that you take that information into account at all times. It will make a lot of things clearer once it all goes down.

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IT FINALLY COMES TO FRUITION

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You had to have been with me a long time to remember this analysis, but I made a prediction early last year regarding Trump and Putin that I believe is now coming to fruition. I’ll explain further down in the piece, but let’s cover the basics first.

PDT brought forth yet another torrential downpour of liberal tears by announcing that he and Hackin’ Vlad Putin have agreed to meet for a summit on a wide range of issues at a date/time/location yet to be announced soon. We do know that the meeting will be held in a country other than Russia or the U.S.

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The announcement followed a one-on-one meeting between the US national security adviser, Bombin’ John Bolton, and Putin at the Kremlin yesterday, where the two sides discussed the summit, nuclear arms control and other bilateral issues, according to the Russian side.

Bolton confirmed that the meeting would take place and said Moscow and Washington would announce the details “simultaneously”. The summit will be the two leaders’ first encounter since they met at the G20 summit in July 2017.

In Washington, Trump suggested Vienna or Helsinki as possible venues. He told reporters that he had watched the Bolton-Putin interview on television but had yet to receive a “full report”.

“It would look like we will probably be meeting in the not too distant future and I’ve said it from day one getting along with Russia and China and with everybody is a very good thing,” the president said in the Oval Office.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday evening, Bolton defended the meeting, saying: “I don’t think it’s unusual for the leaders of Russia and the US to meet,” he said.

PLEASE NO, COMMON SENSE WILL MAKE THEM MELT!

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Trump and Putin “think now is the time for them to get together”, Bolton said. “Direct communications between Trump and Putin is in the best interests of the United States.”

Asked about what the summit could achieve he said he was not sure anything concrete would follow. The “fact of the summit is a deliverable”, he said.

Bolton, a foreign policy hawk, did not veer widely from stated US policy. He said US policy had not changed on sanctions imposed after Russia seized Crimea, and, asked about Moscow’s interference in US elections, said: “I think Trump is going to raise the full range of issues between Russia and the United States, absolutely.”

LIBERALS, TAKE NOTE. JOHN BOLTON IS A HAWK AGAINST RUSSIA AND PUTIN INVITED HIM STRAIGHT TO THE KREMLIN. YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE FOREIGN LEADERS RESPECT STRENGTH.

Man, it’s a caps lock typa recap tonight. So much stupid, though.

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Asked whether the US would recognize the Russian annexation of Crimea, he said: “That is not the position of the United States.”

Bolton, accompanied by the US ambassador to Moscow, Jon Huntsman, also met the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and an adviser, Yuri Ushakov, whose portfolio includes US policy.

“I have to say with regret that Russian-American relations are not in the best shape,” Putin told Bolton, “and I’ve already said this repeatedly in public and am saying this to you now: I think that this is largely a result of the acute internal political struggle within the US itself.”

He added: “Your arrival in Moscow has given us hope that we can make the first steps to reviving full relations between our governments.”

Translation: If people in the U.S. will stop freaking out about anything regarding OMG RUSSIA, maybe we can actually work together on something. Bear in mind, though, Putin is a KGB agent nostalgic for the old USSR. He doesn’t actually care about having warm relations with us. He wants to take us to the cleaners, as he did Obama.

Not this time, Jack.

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WHAT IS ACTUALLY GOING ON:

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Whatever garbage you’ve heard/read in the mainstream media regarding this meeting, dump it from your brain right now. They have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about. I’m about to tell you exactly what’s happening, what PDT wants and his strategy for getting there.

If I sound like a know-it-all right now regarding this issue, fine. But what I’m about to say is correct.

The entire reason for this meeting is Iran. There may be soundbites about election meddling that will make the Fake News go nuts and maybe even some human rights talk, but Putin’s support of the Iranian regime is what has Trump’s interest.

It’s like this.

Without Russia, Iran is in piss poor shape. With sanctions being re-implemented and banks fleeing, they’re in pretty bad shape anyway. But if Putin gives them the boot, Iran is fresh outta luck.

Most of the Middle East hate them and are terrified at the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iranian regime, hence why we see unlikely alliances such as Saudia Arabia and Israel. However, Putin, in his eternal quest to expand the sphere of Russian influence across the globe like his Soviet heroes, partners with Iran to increase his power in Syria (and thus the Middle East).

Syria is just the latest in a long line of U.S./Russia proxy battlefields. The new Afghanistan, basically, except we didn’t learn our lesson about arming jihadists to fight them (it tends to come back and bite us, Bin Laden anyone?).

So here is the plan.

Iran is keen on wiping Israel and the U.S. off the map with their blossoming nuke program; the one Barry Soetoro all but funded directly for them. Beyond North Korea, Iran is our second-most urgent global threat, firstly for their nuclear ICBM ambitions and secondlly for their material support of terrorism around the world.

However, if we’re able to drive a wedge between Iran and Russia, as I noted before, they’re up poop creek without a nuclear paddle. And PDT, understanding how to use leverage, is just the man to make that happen.

You see, Russia is basically a glorified gas station. And Putin would give his left testicle to be able to drill his Arctic Shelf oil effectively and efficiently. Additionally, also thanks to the Trump administration, America is emerging as the world’s chief supplier of oil, which is very bad news for Putin’s autocratic, kleptocratic government.

It’s very simple, folks. Look for PDT to make some sort of economic deal with Putin in exchange for dropping Iran like a hot potato. My guess is that it will involve oil, just because it’s the most logical route, but it could be anything.

Russians are the best enemies we have. The reason I say that is they’re rational. That’s why we fight proxy wars (rather than hot wars) in the first place. We’re both armed to the gills with nukes and could destroy the planet should we face off head to head. Thus, “mutually assured destruction” has kept us from firing directly at one another for going on 70 years.

Rational enemies can be made to play ball if it’s in their self-interest, and that’s exactly what Trump is banking on with Putin.

PDT is looking to defeat Iran the smart, easy way.

Let’s all pray that he succeeds. And while you’re at it, thank God that we have a POTUS who understands how to use power.

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See you tomorrow, Trumpers.

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There it is, homeskillet. You know the drill: questions, comments, concerns, memes, insults, compliments, stickers, jokes, emojis and, if we have time, complaints.

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